Born in Bad Kreuznach on the Nahe, Germany on Nov. 18, 1863. After being drafted into the German army, Mannheim deserted and fled to France where he studied art at Ecole Delecluse, Académie Colarossi, and with DeLancey and Bouguereau. Having learned book binding early in life, he used this trade to support himself while studying art in Paris.

Upon immigrating to Illinois in 1884, he painted portraits in Chicago and taught in a Decatur art school. About 1903 he accepted a position at Frank Brangwyn's school in London and stayed for two years. Returning to the U.S., he taught at the Denver Art School until 1908. He then made his final move to Pasadena and built a home in the Arroyo Seco. Mannheim maintained a studio in the Blanchard Building in Los Angeles where he exhibited and taught, and in 1913 founded the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts in Pasadena. His figure studies and landscapes prior to 1915 were tighter and done with a restricted palette; whereas, his palette then lightened and he adopted the loose brushwork of Impressionism. He died in Pasadena on Sept. 6, 1945.

Member: Laguna Beach AA; Long Beach AA.

Exh: Paris Salon, 1897; Blanchard Gallery (LA), 1909; Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (gold medal); Calif. Art Club, 1911-31; Kanst Gallery (LA), 1912, 1918; Pasadena Art Inst., 1913, 1926, 1928; Throop College (Pasadena), 1914; Woman's Clubhouse (Hollywood), 1914; Friday Morning Club (LA), 1914, 1940; Panama-Calif. Expo (San Diego), 1915 (gold & silver medals); LACMA, 1915, 1917, 1922; Pasadena Society of Artists, 1917-37; Painters & Sculptors of LA, 1922-24; Arizona State Fair, 1923 (1st prize); Southby Salon (LA), 1925; Painters of the West (LA), 1925-27; Biltmore Salon (LA), 1926; Ebell Club (LA), 1926, 1935, 1936, 1938; Sierra Madre City Hall, 1930; Gardena High School, 1934; Foundation of Western Art (LA), 1935-42; Academy of Western Painters (LA), 1935; Webb Gallery (LA), 1938; GGIE, 1939.

In: Orange County (CA) Museum; Long Beach Museum; Denver Museum; Irvine (CA) Museum.

Jean Mannheim (1863-1945) (Pasadena)

Pasadena artist who visited Morro Bay many times in the early years, 1924+.

“Jean Mannheim, who gained a wide reputation through his portrait of John Burroughs, the last to be made of the famous naturalist, has been in Morro Bay several days painting landscapes.

[He] … divides his time between the two divergent types of art,” per “Morrow [sic.] Bay Gains Praise of Artists,” SLO Daily Telegram, Aug. 27, 1924, p. 6 (Appendix I)

Source: Nancy Dustin Wall Moure, MORRO BAY (including LOS OSOS, BAYWOOD PARK and CAYUCOS) ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY BEFORE 1960 (Publications in [Southern] California Art, vol. 13, no. I), Los Angeles: Dustin Publications, 2016.

Jean Mannheim was born in Germany, which he fled for Paris after being drafted in to the army. While in Paris, Mannheim supported himself and his art studies at the Ecole Delecluse and Academie Colarossi with his skills as a bookbinder.

Mannheim left Paris for the U.S. in the 1880's, settling in Chicago, where he painted portraits and taught in a Decatur art school. Following teaching stints in London and Denver, Mannheim moved to Pasadena in 1908, where he built a home on the rim of the Arroyo Seco.

While in southern California, Mannheim developed the bright style of landscape painting for which he is most well known. He also founded the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts in Pasadena in 1913.